L.A. Fair President Hinds Dies at 53
Ralph M. Hinds, president and chief executive officer of the Los Angeles County Fair Assn., died Saturday after suffering a heart attack while watching his grandson compete as a driver in a junior drag-racing competition at Fairplex Park in Pomona.
Hinds, 53, was pronounced dead at 2:30 p.m. after he was rushed to the Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center. He had a history of heart trouble dating to 1987, but employees said that he had been following a strict diet and was adhering to an exercise program.
Hinds, who lived in Claremont, joined the fair association at Pomona in 1978 as general manager and was named president and chief executive officer in 1983. He ran the Los Angeles County Fair, the largest of its kind in North America, and oversaw a $74-million improvement program that began at Fairplex in 1981.
One of the many projects at the fair was the annual horse racing meet in September. The meet, which races thoroughbreds, quarter horses and other breeds, runs for 19 consecutive days and last year the daily averages of 17,263 in attendance and $3.7 million in betting ranked Fairplex among the top 10 tracks in the country.
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